The Looking Glass

David Hockney is a British artist with a theory about a secret method used by some of the most recognized European artists. Hockney believes that the old masters used a method called camera obscura, which involves the use of light and lenses to make more accurate paintings with an almost photographic quality. If this theory is true, it will not only impact the world of art and history, but also the fields of physics, sciences, and optics.

I have the copy of a painting called "De keukenmeid" or "The Kitchen maid" by Johannes Vermeer(1632-1675) brought from the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam by my father several years ago, and I have to confess that every once in a while that I saw the picture, the idea of a secret technique used by Vermeer and other European artists seems rational. Surprisingly, my initial reaction when I read this theory was skepticism due to the apparent lack of evidence, of course followed by the feeling of "what is going on!". After analyzing the article with detail, I started realizing that maybe the theory is not that crazy, but i still believe that a secret like this could not be hiding for hundreds of years, and if it is true, at least more than one written evidence should exists.

I think that if Hockney's theory is true, it will not affect the credibility of the old masters, on the contrary, it would mean that these artists were not only artist, but also scientists and inventors. The outputs are the same: paintings with an enormous quality, but the methods of course, are different. Talking about the use of a camera obscura by these artists means the use of optics since 1420 which is a remarkable use of science and technology for that era.